Ranking Europe’s 15 Most Famous Day Trips: Worth Every Penny or Total Tourist Trap?
Some of Europe’s most famous day trips are unforgettable experiences. Others take six hours on trains or buses and leave you wondering if it was really worth sacrificing an entire vacation day.
In this video, I rank 15 of Europe’s most famous day trips and tell you which ones are Worth Every Penny, which ones are Total Tourist Traps, and which ones fall somewhere in between.
🎥 If you enjoyed this video, check out my ranking of Europe’s Most Famous Attractions:
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
0:33 Stonehenge
1:24 Land’s End
2:22 Pisa
3:18 Pompeii
3:56 Hallstatt
4:52 Sintra
5:47 Neuschwanstein Castle
6:39 Rothenburg ob der Tauber
7:33 Mont Saint-Michel
8:33 Golden Circle (Iceland)
9:27 Cinque Terre
10:29 Toledo
11:18 Meteora
12:07 Giant’s Causeway
12:56 Isle of Skye & Loch Ness
13:56 Wrap Up
About Price of Travel
Price of Travel helps travelers find the best-value destinations around the world.
🌎 Website: https://www.priceoftravel.com
I’ve been traveling professionally for more than 20 years and have visited over 50 countries. On this channel I share practical travel advice, destination rankings, hotel recommendations, and budget tips to help you travel better for less.
30 Comments
Pompeii is so good that it's a main destination!
1) Stonehenge – if you've seen it on a postcard, you don't need to go there.
2) Who on earth plans a trip to Land's End ? Is that even a thing ? 🤔
3) Pisa is OK, but there are better daytrips around Florence.
4) Pompei is as unique as fabulous.
5) Halstatt is cool, but there are so many other cool villages in the Alps, whether you're in France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany or Slovenia…
6) Sintra is definitely worth while.
7) Never visited Neuschwanstein, but I will definitely go there one day. Looks awesome.
8) Rothenburg is really nice, but many other German towns have similar vibes and beauty.
9) Mont Saint Michel is unforgettable, but try to avoir the crowds. Don't go there in the summer, and combine with a Normandy/Brittany trip.
10) Iceland – yes ! But is unfortunately becoming crowded.
11) Cinque Terre – yes.
12) Toledo – never been but looks really cool.
13) Meteora – I've never been there, but very high up on my list 😉
14) Giant's Causeway – somewhat underwhelming, but a roadtrip along the coast is definitely worth while.
15) Isle of Skye – can be cool. Scotland is beautiful.
You have missed
1. Bohemians Swiss National park
2. Saxon Swiss National Park
3. Auschwitz
4. Bruges
5. Dolomites
6. Heidelberg
That so far I can remember
Thank,you. This was a concise, nonjudgmental video that would certainly help to plan day tours along the way. I would add to the list…Monserrat…just 45 minutes outside of Barcelona.
Include Annecy from Geneva
I would add Siena as a great day (half day) trip from Florence!
Which famous European day trip do you think is most worth the time and money, and which one would you skip? Let me know below.
Been to Pompeii, Mont-Saint-Michel and Meteora on this list. They are all great and impressive.
I think you have to add the Aran Islands in Ireland in the list. The handmade fenches are great.
Also at Malta you have stone monuments which even older than Stonehenge. It was great to visie those and it was cheaper.
Well I don’t see any sense making 15 best places to visit in Europe Even 100 is too little Why there is no even one place from Central Europe? I wonder why Iceland is better place to visit than Norway? And why Cinque Terre is better than Rome? But definitely Meteora and Mont St Michel are impressive (mostly because of location)
Missing a lot of things in Europe as a start for France : Valée de la Loire with the tons of incredible castle (Chambord,. Chenonceau…), Carcassonne…
Halstatt is the most overrated town in Europe. Save your time and avoid ridiculous crowds.
Been really wanting to figure out a good sleeper train route in Europe for the summer. Would be lovely to see your thoughts
Mdina in Malta.
How about Haarlem from Amsterdam?
We did a day trip to Cinque Terre from Florence with a 30min stop in Pisa, and a Pompeii/Positano day trip from Rome. Both were perfect combos. Mont St. Michel is totally worth seeing but best done staying close and pairing with Normandy (which is also worth it). We stayed in Bayeux for two nights after a week in Paris. Rothenburg was also a great over night stop, and we stopped at Neuschwanstein while driving from Munich to Switzerland.
Sintra is amazing but exhausting. You forgot to mention the crazy amount of walking up hill you will do. There are busses to take you around, but that adds cost and a feeling that you're merely jostling yourself around with the crowds. The area around Sintra is a national park, so there is a ton to see like other palaces and hilltop forts. It really should be a separate destination, you can fill two full days with it all! If you're merely going to see just the Pena castle, then I can safely say Sintra isn't worth the effort.
Also, Pompeii was the most exhausting day trip (from Rome) I did in all my travels. I left at like 5AM, got back around 9PM. Pompeii absolutely should be a day trip from Naples, and not Rome.
I've been to Pisa (from La Spezia), Sintra, Pompei, and Neuschwanstein as day trips. Also Mont St. Michel and Iceland not as day trips. MSM is too rushed as a day trip from Paris; best to include it as a multi-day trip to the region. Some others that I'd recommend are Auschwitz or Dachau, Malbork from Gdansk, Chartres and Reims from Paris.
Mt Saint-Michel is absolutely worth it. I stayed in a hotel on the "island" for 2 nights. Loved it.
What about Heidelberg? Less than an hour from Frankfurt. The architecture is absolutely charming. While I agree that Neuschwanstein isn't as impressive on the inside, but the drive from Munich is one of the most scenic in that part of Europe. I enjoyed stopping at the small villages along the way, like Oberammergau.
You’re utterly wrong About Neuschwanstein. Neuschwanstein on it’s own is worth the visit, and in walking distance is Hohenschwangau Castle, Forggensee and Alpsee, where the town of Füssen is worth a visit too.
The added noise is unbearable and made me stop in the middle of Your show.
I would add a day trip to Monserrat from Barcelona where you can visit the mountain monastery and tour the vineyards in the valley.
Also, the south coast day trip from Reykjavik is, indeed, a full day commitment but absolutely worth it for Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach alone.
Would also advise visiting Segovia on the day trip to Toledo from Madrid. The aqueducts are impressive.
I'd add Segovia from Madrid. Meteora is beyond belief. Take the extremely inexpensive bus from Athens and spend the night in Kalabaka which has inexpensive hotels and great little restaurants. There's a city bus that takes you to the top of the monasteries and you walk it back, 3 miles of spectacular views, all down hill.
Athos holy mountain is just another incredible example of Greece, like Meterora. Very special. But Greece has so many special places. It's not for nothing 80% mountains, 20% of Europe's Ultra peak mountains, a very complex geograpgy and topograpgy, 16.000km of the most crystal clear coastlines, 6000 islands dotted around the mainland, 4 tectonic plates coming together in Greece (European plate, Asian plate, African plate and a 4th plate), 800 natural hotsprings, 15.000 caves, 400 wetlands, Europes most untouched river (Aoos), and some of the top cleanest rivers (Voidomatis) and so on and so on. Greece is a geological paradise, mountain paradise, coastal paradise, nature paradise, islands paradise, with so much culture and history that you can visit the nation and see endless diversity of beauty for more than a lifetime
I've got the best piece of advice for Americans… Please don't come to Europe I don't mean that in a nasty way culture will be well over the top of your heads.
Hello, I would also add Bran's Castle-Brasov from Bucharest, Romania.
Great video, thank you !
You clearly have not been to Mont Saint Michel..
I would add Guimarães as a day trip from Porto. Worth every penny
I am glad I saw Stonehenge 30 years ago when I didn't have to harvest an organ just to pay money to look at it. Depending on your interests, it's either very worth seeing or it's just a pile of rocks but one thing is for certain, it looks just like the picture. It won't be the highlight of the trip so do fit it in with many things but the cost would be a deterrent now for sure.
Neuschwanstein is super cool but I wouldn’t go there as a day trip. In 2000, I stayed in Fussen for two nights and used that as a base to see Neuschwanstein and the two nearby palaces: Linderhoff and Herrenchiemsee (a replica of the Palace of Versailles).
Neuschwanstein is basic on the inside but is still worthwhile to check out, especially because the walk up to the castle is exciting with the anticipation of reaching the destination!